Rise of the Runelords

- We traveled to the town priest to receive a blessing before returning to the underground dungeon at thistletop. Priest was no help.
- Went to the Mayor’s office to discuss what we had found in our last trip to thistletop, apparently the guy in armor is believed to a merc from Riddleport.
- At the Rusty Dragon inn we find that Amico has packed up her adventure gear and has left to find her recently escaped brother Tsuto. She headed out the North Gate
- We packup and return to thistletop to finish our clearing of the thistletop.
- When exploring the underground tunnels we find Tsuto’s notes about the town attack
- Drewson defiles a statue of Lamashtu and takes two magic Kukri’s from her hands.
- The party fights two yeti hounds, Chalmer runs for his life during the fight leaving drewson to fight alone.
- Chalmer breaks his thieves tools twice trying to pick basic locks.
- The party engages Bruthazmus and his four hoes. Drewson again is relied upon to defeat the enemy with little help from the party. Once drewson best bruthazmus in combat, the party interrogates bruthazmus. We find out the towns previous priest was stolen and burned on the alter by Nuallia in some ritual. Bruthazmus also spills the beans about this friends and their work. Once bruthazmus’s usefulness wanes the party kills him.
- The party continues to explore the dungeon and we find a planning room with a chalkboard. Apparently this is the location were the bad guys made their plans for future attacks on the city. The party find a reference to a “whispering beast” that Nuallia is attempting to tame, and a army of sinspawn under the town.
- Adjacent to the planning room we find Orak and lyre working when drewson opens the door. Drewson slams the door shut and starts a fire infront of the door in hopes to let the two die smoke. Unfortantly this plan failed when Orak was able to push the fire out of the way, and commence attacking the party. Few short minutes later the party dispatches the Orak and Lyre.
- The party takes rest in a small room outside the planning room.
- The next day the party investigates the room we found Orak and Lyre working in, and find a hidden pathway which leads downstairs, which we surmise Tsuto and Nuallia are located.
- Chalmer checks for traps on the secret passage and perceives a trap, which actually never existed. Drewson believes Chalmers is becoming noticeably sloppy in his adventuring lately, and may not have the heart for such dangers.
- Upon further exploring the party finds a room with a large column of gold, Drewson can detect illusion magic at play, however the party cannot determine the purpose. The party moves on.
- The next room reveals three shadow demons after the party enters. Krantz is taken out of battle early on, suffering from massive str damage. After a couple of hits Chalmers again runs off leaving Drewson to fight the three shadows alone. Drewson again slays his foes effortlessly and heals Krantz while waiting for Chalmers to come out of hiding.
- When Chalmers returns, Drewson has to give Chalmers and Krantz an inspiring speech to keep pushing forward. Chalmers and krantz begrudgingly agree.
- A few rooms later we find Nuallia and Tsuto occupied with their business. Under Drewson expert leadership, the party changes battle tactics and focus our attacks on Tsuto resulting in a quick death. Drewson then drops his Sheild and mace and turns his attention on Nuallia with his GreatSword. Krantz runs in fear of Nuallia, when drewson engages Nuallia. Drewson and Chalmers fights an epic battle with Nuallia , however Nuallia eventually falls to drewson sword.
- After gathering krantz, the party returns to town with Nuallia body, along the way we find Amico and inform her of her brothers quick demise.

Fuck dice

After the battle in the bramble, we decided to rest. The toil of battle diminished our resolve, thus we returned to the goblin hideaway and made camp.

Knowing that I was most valorous, I took first watch. I diligently scanned the dark of night for hours on end. Sometime in my shift, I heard a growling sound. Knowing that the light of the campfire would reveal the source of the growl, I slipped back towards the camp. At this point, I was beset by a great cat. It tried in vain to attack me, but I quickly dispatched it. I tried to awake my side-kicks,looking to receive praise for my great heroics, but they were slow to rise. The halfling was quick to his feet, but Drewson took forever to arise. Even once risen, he decided to take the rest of the night to gird himself. However, in his efforts to equip his chainmail, he noticed a goblin emerge from the brambles. While he did not prove himself in combat, at least his eyes proved worthy companions. Anyway, this goblin wielded flame as I wield my swords and daggers. I quickly turned, dropping my sword, notching an arrow and letting it take flight. It struck true, forcing the goblin to return to the thicket.. but not before whispering the spidery words of magic. The plants around my feet rose and entangled me. The halfling seemed unaffected. Drewson, stubborn as ever, continued to gird himself. The goblin appeared again, and I loosed yet another shot. Like the first, it struck. Understanding the futility of combat with such a graceful marksman, the goblin decided to end his life.

Little did the goblin know that we would momentarily spare his life in turn for information. We found the name of the imp to be Gomert. Gomert was charged to guard the Thistletop since banished from the keep. It seems that he and his warchief did not see eye to eye. He told us of the goblins led by Ripnugget, but also of a few humans taking league as well. A woman (who I assume is Nualia), a half-elf (obviously Tsuto, but little does he know that Tsuto was captured by my hand), a silent man in armor, and a dark-skinned woman that harnessed fire to burn goblins. With a more detailed list of possible personnel, the goblin showed us the way through the thicket. Drewson rewarded the goblin with a swift death. Seeing the rope bridge, and likewise the citadel perched on the rise of the island, we knew our task of reconnaissance complete and returned to Sandpoint.

There, we met with the mayor. She was concerned with the dread tidings and urged us to return and clear the hive of villainy. We inquired about possible help, but the town offered only cowardice. Drewson also seemed to waver when contemplating returning. His “god” of war and strength must have looked down on him with pity. I urged him to remember his role, and he relented to return to Thistletop. Before we left, I desired a new blade as my old was stained with the filthy blood of goblins. Being generous, I bartered with the blacksmith, earning Drewson a new hammer, shield and breastplate, while I took a beautiful new sword. From there, we journeyed back to the den of evil.

A short while later, we again saw the goblin keep. Under the cover of night, we began our assult. Drewson led the way across the bridge. Upon coming up to the keep, my expert eye noticed that it was fully constructed of scavenged wood, possibly from ships. A group of goblins played a crude game with a captured gull. The front doors stood ajar. We entered without drawing the attention of the preoccupied goblins. The keep was poorly constructed, many rooms served no purpose whatsoever. At some doors, we could hear the sounds of goblins fighting and yelling, but perhaps only in practice. I did find a room full of sleeping goblins, maybe 15 or 20 if I correctly recall. Like the reaper himself, I dispatched them all. It was at this point that I suggested that we ascend the guard towers to rid possible lookouts. The halfling tagged along, but I am not sure why. The first tower was guarded by two sleeping goblins. They shared the same fate as their friends. We ventured through a few more doors close by. We came to a courtyard, filled with the vile goblindogs. Out of mercy, we crushed them. We ventured further, coming across the latrine. It was there that the halfling impressed me, pointing out a wall. I examined this wall, finding that it was false. Inside the small chamber, a chest. I scanned the chest, and then unlocked it. Somehow, in my haste, I over looked a small blade that caught my hand. While it hurt, it was indeed worth the effort. In the chest we found:

3 Platinum Pieces

89 Gold Pieces

2,490 Silver Pieces

7,432 Copper Pieces

Leather Pouch – 34 flawed malachite gems

Medium Chain Shirt

Medium Scimitar of very fine quality

Pair of Manacles – very fine quality

Golden Holy Symbol of Sarenrae

A Jade Necklace

A Blue Silk Gown

This was truly the treasure of the Thistletop tribe.

The other tower proved a bit more difficult. First off, I ordered Drewson to cover the main doors, closing and locking them as I began my assault. As I planned to burst through the trapdoor in the tower, the halfling got anxious and tried to climb past me. This caused me to fall. I could hear the sounds of the halfling’s failure as I angrily arose and flew up the stairs. He was letting them live much too long, their howls possibly alerting the keep. Once up top, I brushed him aside and felled the goblins. Down below, I could see that Drewson actually did his part, shutting the main doors. We had to strike quickly. I ordered my lackeys accompany me towards the dissident goblin shouts. As we approached, we witnessed the horrors of the goblins’ butchery. Sickening. It was then that I urged Drewson enter what turned out to be Ripnugget’s throne room. He spoke something as he opened the door. Not willing to let the halfling foil my plans, I rushed past Drewson. In the room, I noticed two goblins. One seemed to be singing (if you can call it that) and the other was mounted on a large lizard. I rushed the lizard, dealing it terrible damage. Drewson ran in, but was grappled by goblins that fell from the ceiling. With my assistance, he finally freed himself. The large goblin charged Drewson, but the warrior felled his mount. The halfling started to sing, which surprisingly inspired me. With this motivation, I laid the large goblin to rest. Quickly thereafter, I rushed and likewise killed the other. How pitiful a struggle. I hardly remember the fight, except for the ease of my blade against my foes.
For my trouble, I found:

2 Potions

A breastplate of fine quality

A magical Dogsliger

A Dogslicer of fine quality

A Dented Crown

A Key Ring

A Wand

A Studded Leather

A Potion

A Short Bow

A Short Sword

2 Fire Cougar Pelts

A Silver Holy Symbol of Lemashtu

This was of course, after ransacking the keep. We did revisit the courtyard, where we found a pathetic war horse. It looked as though the goblins were starving it, hoping for a meal. Yet another trophy in the tale of my heroism.

Knowing that my companions were spent, I decided to lead them back to town. We shall soon return to Thistletop. After all, not everyone is as resilient as Chalmers.

After clearing out the glassworks, Chalmers and myself returned to town to turn over Tsuto to the authorities. I stayed with Tsuto in the cell why Chalmers ventured out to the city to expertly hawk our loot we gathered during adventures.
Upon returning to the city jail, Chalmers suggested we head over to the mayors office to discuss the impending goblin attack that Tsuto’s journal revealed. The mayor suggest that he spread a few rumors around town about goblins being sighted snooping around outside the city, which would put people on guard without inciting a riot. The mayor also instructed his town guard to form a militia and start preparing the towns people for the possible raid by holding drills and training session with all able body people.
After leaving the Mayor’s office we headed over to the town sage’s office to learn more about the word in the journal “Quasit” which we could not place. The sage had suggested that the quasit is actually an outsider, better known as an outer plane being of the chaotic nature. It did not bode well for the town if a quasit was involved in any of the towns problems. The sage connected the quasit with some history about Thessalonians which apparently was a civilization of magic users that lived a few millennia ago. The old light house in town is runes of that civilization. There was a group from time called the RuneLords which wielded great power.
We left the sages office with intrigue about what could actually be behind the attacks on the town, and little did we know of what great evil awaited us in our next adventure.

Chalmers and I, a little spooked after speaking with the sage and having the giddiness of any young adventurer decided we’d go explore the supposed smuggler tunnels under the glassworks that we learned about in tsuto’s journal. We stopped by the Rusty Dragon inn to enroll the help of our new found friend Krantz which showed promise as a young adventurer in our last goblin encounter. After abit of bartering between Chalmers and Krantz, he finally agreed to come with us after having to be bribed with the trade of our flute which we got off Tsuto. I thought to myself then that we had made a mistake, “ any adventurer worth their weight wouldn’t need to be bribed to go adventure….” I was later proved right.

All together now and ready for an adventure we headed to the glassworks building and got straight to work trying to locate the smugglers tunnel. I let Chalmers and Krantz do the searching at first, awaiting for Chalmers to prove his prowess with his “street smarts”. However in the end as usual Chalmers had to rely on my focused wit to locate the entrance to the tunnel. It turned out being a sliding rock wall which hid the tunnel in one of the small rooms in the basement. Chalmers feeling bested, stepped up again this time to attempt to open the door. With all his might he pulled and pushed “ he was sure giving it his all” but ended in defeat again. Krantz barely hiding his snickers moved Chalmers out of the way and single handedly pushed the wall out of the way revealing the secret passage.
We proceeded down the dark passage guided by Krantz’s light spell, with Chalmers in the lead and me protecting the rear. We made several turns and the tunnel spit several times. Expertly Chalmers managed to lead us right into a room which held a dreadful creature lurking in the shadows. The fiend immediately attacked us, barely giving us time to get our weapons out. The fiend came right at Chalmers, catching him with his guard down and bit him. This amateur mistake Chalmers made seemed to enrage him with what seemed to be un-natural fury and rage. We continue to beat on this monster for quite a long time, I noticed early on that it seemed the fiend was healing himself rather quickly after each hit. At this rate I was not sure if my less experienced companions could keep pace ( after all, they didn’t have years of training as I did). In efforts to end this fight quickly I changed tactics and pressed my attack with even more vigor. A few well placed hits later the “SinSpawn” laid dead at my feat. However after looking over at Chalmers, he seemed to be little worse for wear and Krantz on the other hand was fine, apparently he was not turning out to be the great adventurer after all.

We proceeded on investigating the underground tunnels, until we found an alter to Lamashtu. At this point Chalmers recognized we were no longer in rough carved tunnels, we had entered into an underground temple with finely crafted walls. Leading the way, we moved into the next room which seemed to be some sort of giant ceremonial room. Chalmers stayed behind why Krantz and myself ventured up to a smoldering pool of clear lava at the elevated part of the room. While we were investigating, Chalmers suddenly let out a shriek. We turned around to find Chalmers face down on the stone floor bleeding. Hovering over Chalmers was the creature which matched the description of what the sage had called a “Quasit” .
Knowing we were not prepared to fight such a being, I immediately drew upon all the courage I could muster and attempted to distract the Quasit with my expertise in diplomacy. My attempts proved to be futile, however it gave Krantz the opportunity to sneak around the Quasit while I had him distracted. I also moved towards the exit, where Chalmers still laid unconscious on the floor. Krantz pulled out a wand and healed Chalmers a bit, then turned to the Quasit and started speaking some arcane mumbo jumbo, however whatever he was doing had no effect on the Quasit except to enrage him into attacking us. Knowing we would be bested by the Quasit I called upon Gorum to grant me the power of Obscuring Mist as to protect our retreat. Gorum’s gifts came flowing through me with astonishing speed, filling the whole room with a dense mist, this gave us the needed time to escape out of room, and finally out of the underground temple. We ran all the way out to the secret rock wall, and closed with not a second to spare. Chalmers disabled he door and we left the basement with little more than our lives, but grateful we survived.

After gathering our wits, we headed over to the church and informed the high priest of our little quasit friend under the city. The high priest told us he would immediately request resources from the church to handle the temple, but in the mean time he would secure the secret door with a blessing.

Leaving the church we headed to the Mayor’s office to inform her of the situation, Upon arriving she also had disturbing news for us. A town militia had spotted a goblin scouting party near the Thistletop. She asked us to go investigate the thistletop immediately and report back with information.

Saddling up immediately we headed towards the Thistletop. Once we broke through the woods and crossed the stream, Thistletop came into view. The thistles were topping 20ft tall, and insanely dense. We searched the edge of the thistle for some time, till Chalmers found a small hidden passage that lead into what seemed to be a tunnel just tall enough for goblins. Only Krantz didn’t seem to affected by the tight space. We explored the thistletop for a couple of hours until we found a lookout, which was deserted, or so we thought. We turned the corner and found 12 goblins unaware of our presence. Chalmers and I slowly crept backwards so we could form a battle plan, however Krantz thought it a good idea to charge in and start casting spells. Effectively ruining any chance of a well thought attack plan, we were thrown into battle with the goblin. Chalmers and myself already being experts at slaying goblins, slipped back into our groove and started laying waste to the goblins. Chalmers expertly flanked every goblin we fought with little effort. With no more than 3 goblins down, Krantz all of sudden yells for retreat, and runs off the way we came. After trading a quick glance at Chalmers we were both confused by Kranzt’s actions and decided to ignore them. We watch Krantz run off in the distance as gobins are constantly focusing their attacks on him, since hes such an easy target. A few minutes later Chalmers deals the final blow to the last goblin attacking us, and we both look up at each other with the same expression of pride. “OWWEEEE” we hear in the distance, and suddenly we both remember of the idiot Krantz which ran off with a trail of goblins following him. Our movement hampered by the small tunnel, we make our way towards the sound of Krantz whimpering. We find a group of goblins standing over him ready to deal the final blow, when out of no where Chalmers produces a bow and lands an arrow square in the head of one of the goblins, instantly dropping him. As Krantz lays unconscious the goblins turn the attention to us, and again we lay waste to the goblins.
After we easily finish off the last of the goblins, I proceed over to Krantz and mutter a few choice words at this limp body laying out bleeding all over the place. Calling upon Gorum, I bless Kranz with a substantial amount of healing.

The duo decided to explore the glassworks at the behest of the old maid in the Rusty Dragon inn. Tsuto’s note to Amiko radiated deceit, thus prompting Professor Chalmers to goad his short companion, Drewson, into action.

They made their way to the glassworks. Upon arriving, Drewson noted the still in the air. For a day of business, the sounds of labor failed to ring from the building.

The adventurers carefully entered, finding not a soul in the first room. This aroused their interest. They cautiously moved forward into the next room. As they entered this room, they were beset by a horde of goblins. Chalmers began the battle by placing an arrow through the head of one of the goblins. A battled raged as the goblins recieved reinforcements, but they were soon subdued into retreat.

The heroes fleeted after their cowardly foes into another room. In this room they found an open floor safe, empty except for a key. Chalmers procured this key, knowing the value of obtaining the quickest solution to any lock. After examining this room, and other adjoining rooms, they processed downstairs… presumably after the goblins.

Once they entered into the darkness of the new depths, Drewson pulled a torch from his pack to illuminate the situation. The newfound light gave Professor Chalmers a chance to examine a recently dismantled brick wall. Chalmers knew what this could mean, and quickly hurried Drewson into the dark expanse behind it.

Down this hallway, two doors appeared to their left. The first opened into a simple 5×10 room. In the second, a battered Amiko. Try as he might, the Professor urged a response from the unconscious maiden. It wasn’t until Drewson called on the divine that she stirred.

Amiko, when woken, whispered into Chalmer’s ear. She bode forewarning of her brother’s plan, with the help of a mysterious Nualia, to bring down the city of Sandpoint. He offered her solace, and when she refused, spoke of going to Thistletop before sending her away to her doom.

Chalmer’s sent the maiden away to safety before suggesting that the duo proceed into the darkness.

A few doors later, and the Goblinbane himself heroically burst into a room containing the vile Tsuto and his army of goblins. With mild assistance from Drewson, the gallant Chalmers bested the goblins, and eventually Tsuto, in combat. Sparing his life, they resolved to bind his hands and deliver him to the garrison. For their troubles, the duo found the following treasure:

While Chalmer’s painstakingly gathered the items, Drewson attached a length of rope to both his and Tsuto’s waist. The heroes led the villain away.

They reached the first floor of the glassworks and encountered the fair maiden, Amiko. She was distraught at the sight of her treacherous brother and refused to converse with him. The heroes continued on to the garrison.

As they approached, Tsuto began to widely grin. This caused great anger in Chalmers, who then intimidated Tsuto by feigning a kick to his crotch. Chalmers, of course knowing the value of intimidation, pulled his kick at the last second allowing it to miss.

They arrived at the garrison and submitted Tsuto to a cell. The stubborn dwarf, Drewson, elected to stand watch over the villain. Knowing the immediate need, Chalmers withdrew the journal and flipped through its pages.

The journal contained maps detailing various plans of attack on Sandpoint. One of the maps was even circled, its details matching those of the goblin raid a few nights prior.

The journal also contained a great number of ravings by the insane Tsuto. He wrote of vengeance against Sandpoint, aided by a horde of goblins. Also in his writings were mentions of aid from a Nualia. The tale turned bleak with the mention of the successful extraction of the body of Father Toban and potential aid from Lamashtu, the goddess of nightmares, madness and monsters.

With this, the tales of the heroic Chalmers and his trusty sidekick Drewson must pause for a slight reprieve.

PC’s started in Sandpoint City the day of festival in honor of the new church of Desna Opening.

Chalmers and Drewson met up after Chalmers tried to sell a free lunch to the crowd Drewson was in.

PC’s learned that the church had burned 5 yrs ago.

PC’s made acquaintance with the town mayor and received tickets to the evening show.

Goblins attacked the festival right after dark. PC’s saved several towns people, and Duke Aldern Foxglove.

PC’s were labeled town heros after embellishing up their minor squirmish with the goblins.

PC’s investigated the grave robbing of the old high priest. It appeared the grave robbing was performed by humans, not goblins as the town sheriff thought.

Chalmers has relations with the gernal store owners daughter, and got caught in the act.

Met the new high priest of the church and explained our thoughts on the goblin atk being a cover up for the grave robbing.

PC’s went hunting with duke foxglove and Drewson had slain a rare cougar.

PC’s met a bard during a battle with a stranded goblin.

Drewson drank the slimy water from the hagfish tank at the local bar.

PC’s met the local Ranger and learned of the 5 Goblin Tribes working together.

Town sheriff asked PC’s to stay in town and protect the people while he leaves to solicit for addition guards.

Things to Follow up on next gaming session:

PC’s learned that the owner of the rusty dragon’s father is involved with the dangers facing the city. She left to meet her estranged brother one night, but has not returned. PC’s will investigate next gaming session.

Sheriff should arrive with addition guards.

Investigate the goblin layer of the 5 tribes to try and find out why they are working together.